1. Field
The following relates generally to photovoltaic devices, and more particularly to stretchable photovoltaic devices and carriers that facilitate formation of the same.
2. Related Art
Renewable energy, unlike conventional energy, is generated by harnessing one or more potentially limitless supplies of naturally replenished natural resources, including, for example, sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat. Because of being generated as such, a significant portion of the World's populace realizes that renewable energy is ever increasing in importance because, for example, renewable energy provides ways to supplant or augment conventional energy and/or to provide energy where conventional energy does not or cannot be distributed.
Given that most sources of renewable energy are environmentally clean, many consider renewable energy as a way of reducing detrimental effects to the environment (e.g., pollution, and in turn, global climate change) caused by generating conventional energy from fossil fuels. And given an ever decreasing supply of the fossil fuels and concerns over peak oil, many believe that, in the near future, the sources of renewable energy need not only to increase in amount, but also proliferate in type (each a “renewable-energy source”).
In addition, certain renewable-energy sources may, as a result of inherent characteristics thereof, spur development of new applications and/or cause re-development of existing applications to take advantage such sources. For example, some of the renewable-energy sources may have an inherent characteristic of being able to provide power without being tethered to a remote distribution center. This characteristic may spur development of mobile and/or wireless applications, for example. Moreover, renewable energy may allow for deployment of certain types of applications that, but for a given type of source, would not be practicable. On the other hand, a need for a certain type of application may spur development of a new renewable-energy source or re-development of one or more of the renewable-energy sources.
Major contributors to current, worldwide generation of renewable energy are renewable-energy sources that employ a photovoltaic (“PV”) effect. Pursuant to the PV effect, each of these renewable-energy sources (“PV source”) generates energy, in the form of electricity, by harnessing electromagnetic radiation, such as sunlight, garnered from respective an environment proximate to such PV source.
Many applications for the PV source currently exist. These applications are not limited to any particular area of the world and/or any given sector of economy. In remote regions of the world, for example, an off-grid installation of the PV source provide the only available source of electricity. In highly populated and/or economically developed regions, the PV source may, for example, source electricity to an electrical grid to supplement and/or reduce the amount of conventional energy distributed from the electrical grid. Assuming that a cost per unit of energy provided from the PV source is less than a cost per unit of energy provided from a source of conventional energy, any savings in costs resulting from the PV source sourcing electricity to the electrical grid may be realized by utility companies and passed on to their customers.
To facilitate the foregoing in the past, a legacy PV source employs either a legacy PV panel or a legacy array of such PV panels (“photovoltaic-panel array”). Each of the legacy PV module and legacy photovoltaic-panel array typically includes a plurality of legacy PV cells (sometimes referred to as solar cells) that are electrically interconnected.
Each of these legacy PV cells is constructed either rigidly or to allow a limited amount of flexing or bending. Damage, and in turn, inoperability of any of the legacy PV cells occurs when such legacy PV cell is subjected to (i) a force beyond the limited amount of flexing or bending, and/or (ii) a force that would cause it to elongate and/or compress. Like the construction of the legacy PV cells, each of the legacy PV module and legacy photovoltaic-panel array are generally rigidly constructed so as to prevent damage to and inoperability of the legacy PV cells that would otherwise result from the aforementioned forces.
As can be readily discerned from the foregoing, the legacy PV source is not suitable for applications that require non-planar and/or arbitrary form factors. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a PV source suitable for applications that require non-planar and/or arbitrary form factors.